The Calm After the Storm

"She's got nothing to do with our family’s past rivalries.”

Anna was crying, her face in her hands.

Walter stepped up and wrapped his arms around her. "Emma, that's enough!" he said.

"It's just a silly old necklace. Let her have it."

He yanked off the necklace and threw it down hard. "Come on. I'll buy you a new one that’s way nicer and more expensive."

Matthias looked at me and let out a heavy sigh. "Emma, why do you always have to be like this and cause such a fuss?

"Anna's already having a tough time, yet you just can't seem to let her be.

"Can't you try to be a little nicer? You should be more ladylike.”

"Emma, you've won plenty of design competitions before. You'll have other chances to win big.

"Anna really needs this win. It'll help her make a name for herself so the Reagle family accepts her."

He reached out to help me up. "Emma..."

"Go away!" I pushed his hand off and started to laugh.

"Brother." That was the last time I would ever call Matthias that and the last time I would ever look at him for real.

"You'll get what's coming to you," I told him.

Matthias frowned but could not look me in the eye. "Emma, I'll make it up to you," he said.

Then, he ran off after Walter and Anna.

I knelt down, picked up the necklace, and held it close to my heart. I was frozen in place for what felt like forever.

I did not shed even a single tear.

It turned out that when a person felt the most devastated they had ever felt, they would not even be able to cry.

The sun dipped below the horizon.

A blood-red glow swallowed everything.

The television said it would get hotter in the next few days.

It was dry, so we had to be careful about fires.